Overflow-trimming machine



April 21, 1925. r 1,534,053

J.- A. BROGAN OVERFLOW TRIMMING MACHINE Filed Oct. 12, 1921 Patented Apr. 21, 1925 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. 7

JAMES A BROGAN, OF LAWRENCE, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF IPATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

OVERFLOW-TRIMMING MACHINE.

AppIication filed October 12, 1921. Serial No. 507,195. I

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, JAMES A. BROGAN, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Lawrence, in the county of Essex and Com monwealth of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Overflow-Trimming Machines, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indieating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to cutting machines and is herein illustrated as embodied in a machine for trimming the overflow from molded rubber heels.

Such heels are made by placing blanks of unvulcanized rubber or rubber compound in molds and subjecting them to heat and pressure. Durin the subjection of the blanks to heat an pressure more or less of the rubber flows into the spaces between the parts of the mold so that the vulcanized heels have fins or lips which result from this overflow and must be trimmed off before the heels'are incorporated in boots or shoes.

A type of rubber heel which has gone into wide use comparatively recently is concave on the heel seat face and convex on the tread face, the heel as a} whole being thus concavoconvex; and the variously curved edges and faces which are present in such a heel have introduced difliculties into the overflow trimming operation.

The general object of the present invention isto provide an improved trimming machine which is suitable for operating upon this and other types of rubber heels and similar articles.

According to one feature of the invention, in the illustrated construction a pair of cooperating shear cutters are provided in combination with a work support one edge of which lies close to the locality in which the cutters v meet, and in front of that cutter which is above the work support extends a thin-edged guard which is preferably a hollow rotatable one extending over the cutter. With this construction the shear cutters may be caused to sever the overflow from any type of heel by a clean out which is substantially flush with the edge :face of the heel from which the overflow projects,

the construction being particularly advantageous when concavo-convex heels, which often must be swung on short radii, are "encountered, since the operator may hold an edge face of the heel against the guard, while feeding thel1eel,1and swing the heel as may be required without danger of injllliy either to his fingers or to the Work.

f the work support is: at a proper height to present the overflow on the concave face of a heel of the concavo-convex type to the bite of the cutters and then the heel is turned over on its convex face, it will be obvious that the overflow on that face will be located partly or wholly above the bite of the cutters; and the same difliculty may be caused or increased by projections on one of the faces of a heel such, for example, as the raised rings which commonly encircle the nail holes on the tread faces of concave-convex heels as well as heels othe'rwise substan tially flat on their tread faces. According to another feature of the invention the work support is so mounted that it may be raised.

and lowered, and means are provided under the control of the operator for so raising and lowering it at will during the operation of the machine. Thus, while the operator guides the heel to the cutters, he may, as is necessary or desirable," raise or lower the work support during the operation of the machine so as to severv the overflow exactly in line with the sides or breast of the heel.

In presenting the heel to the cutters and in feeding it to them, itis desirable in many cases that a portion of the heel which is not being operated upon be moved above or maintained above the periphery of the lowor cutter. In order to prevent this portion of the heel from being accidentally cut, as well as to aid the operator in presenting and feeding the heel, another feature of the in vention comprises a member extending above the periphery of the lower eutter'in position to be engaged by the under side of the work before the work is operated upon Fig. 3 is a perspective showing the'miu chine trimming the overflow from the concaverns fof a'heel, and

.Fi'givra" I isflasiih'ilar View with the heel turrfed over: i M;o'u ted in thesframe 5 of the rn'achin'e isilaidri'vingishaft 7 whichfmay be rotated by'peweea plid" to a pulley 9, said shaft having fasthto its outer" end an upper cutterimreman diameterarranged to co-operate to produce a shear cut with a larger eader-13 which is fast to the outer end-jjef ashaft 152' F'a'stto theinner end witha pinion IQoii the drive shaft'7'so that birth cutters are esitiv lydriven at approximatelythe; same peripheral velocity.

=Loeated' 'in-front o-f the mamas a work 's'iip ortortable le fastenedto bars 21,- 2:5

e'aeh bar-carrying at'runnion in theform of a srna'll ro'd, theo'ne carried'by the" bar 21 being indicated at 25; The trunnion which is carried by the bar 23 is a similar rodand passeslo'os'elythrough a bore in the upper end of a standard "27 so that the opposite trunnio fes, and" with it the'b'ar 21 and the table-19, may ber'a'is'edand' lowe'red; The trunnions are alin'e'd and their axis is transversetothe axes of the cutters and passes substantiallythrough the locality in which the cutter meet; The'weight of the table tends at alll'tiines to cause it to swing down w'ardly'; and the extent ofthis downward mov'ernent islimited by contact of'a bar 29,

which isfast to thetable, with astud 31,

said 'stud havinga threaded stem of reduced diameter passing; through a vertical slot in astationary upright member and being held in ad justed position by a nut- 35.

"In order to provide for the raising andlowei'ingi 6f the trunnion 25 and with it 'th e table -19, said trunnion ipasses'through a bore in "a --meIi1bei"-.3'i which 1 is vertically" slidable m r guidewayl in" a guide member 39, said guidemember being mounted for vertical adju stment" on a1 standarddl. The. guide membr39 is held in I adjusted position bya wing-nut 43 threaded upon "a'st'ud which passes through a vertical slot in the gui de memberand iscarried by the standar'd 41. Theslidehnember 37 is normally held in the position 'shown' with respect to I the guide member 39 by a tension spring 45 fast at its upper endto pin carried by the slide memberland at its lowerend toa pin 49- carried by the guide member 39 and passing through a vertical slot in the slide member. A lever 51 pivoted at =53 to the guide memher 39 is forked at one end to receive the pin 47. IVith this construction, when the wing-nut i3 has been loosened, the flguide member 39'with its' assbc iated parts maybe raised or lowered to brin ing-@91 3; 25 ..al d wvitli .itxthe table 19 into the desired normal position, after which the wing-nut is tightened;- Thereafter, by pressing down upon the free end of the lever 51, the table may be raised against thetension of the spring4'5, and thereafterywhenthe pressure upon the free 'e'ndi's diminished or removed, the "table will be loweredto its normal position" as determined by Z the vertical p'dsitioii ofthe guide member "39. j i

Theta'ble is cut awayin two localities on the side towardthe cutters to form anaire'w projection 54 so that when a concavely curved edge of the heel, such as thebreast edge, is encountered the heelma he rocked on the projection and the overflow properly presented to the cutters. The sides of the projection may be beveled, as shown, if desired. In order to facilitate the feedingo'f the work, aseries of idle rolls 5'6are iniiunted in the table opposite the bite of the'cutteri'sl' It is essentialin machines of this type that no cutting into the heel itself'shalhoccur. In order to pr'event the uppercutter from doing this, a guard is provided havinga portion extending in frontjof said cutter. As illustrated this guard is shown as a hollow conical thin-edged member 55 which extends over the cutter in such manner as to'leav'e exposed only a smallportion' of thelower part of the cutter. This hollow guard, in the illustrative machine, also aids in feed ing the work and to that end iscarried atthe lower end of a spindle the upper end of which'carriesa spiral gear 55 which meshes with a spiral gear 57 cut on the endof a short shaft 59. The inner end of this shaft carries a large gear 61' which is driven through an idle gear 63 by a gear 65 fast to thedriving shaft"? The] spindle of the hollow guard 55 is inclined from top to bottom toward the rear of the machine as shown so that the forward portion of the guard lies closetothe front faceof the u er cutter. The bracket 67 which carries the hollow'guard and theshort shaft 59 is adjustable in a dire'ction'parallel to theaxis of the driving shaft 7 and is held in adjusted position by a screw bolt 69 which passes through a slot in the frame of themachine and is threaded into the bracket. It is thus possible to adjust the guard toward from the faceof the cutter '11. i

In order tolessen the friction between the guard and the work means are provided for supplyinglubricant to the work-engaging face of the guard. As shown, a pipe 71- leads from a receptacle 73, formed in the upper part of the frameof the machine, to a point in proximity to the outer surface of the guard and carries in its end a piece of bibulous material such as felt which it holds in contact with the guard.

In feeding a heel to the machine a portioIi of the heel, at a locality which has not yet been: operated upon by the cutters, is maintained over the periphery of the lower cutter, such a position being advantageous in trimming-the curved edges of the heel. I-n order to prevent the lower cutter from coming into contact with the under side of the-heel, as well as to aid in positioning the heel duringthe operation of the machine, there is provided a guard 77 which extends above the periphery of the lower cutter at a locality in advanceof that in which the cutters engage the work. This guard has a curved upper portion andis-c'arried by a stem 79 having a threaded lower end of reduced diameter. ed on the-reduced portion of the stem and held from movement in the direction of extent ofthe stem provides means for adjusting the guard vertically. 1

In the operation of the machine the heel, assuming it to be of the concavo-convex type, may be presented first with the concave face resting upon the table as shown in Fig. 3 and trimmed all the way around and then turned over as shown in Fig. 4 and again trimmed all the way around. If there is still lefta fin or a remnant of a fin along one or both edgesof the breast which will often be'the case with one type of heel in common use, the rear end of the heel-may be raised, and the breast edge or edges trimmed more closely by rocking the heel about the projection 54. During the trimming operation the handle 51 may be manipulated, when desired, to change the height of the table. Although the invention has been set fort-h as embodied in a particular machine, it should be understood that the invention is not limited in the scope of its application to the particular machine which has been shown and described.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim 'as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is: I

=1. A machine for trimming a fin from a molded rubber article having, in combination, a rotary cutter, a cooperating shear member, a thin-edged guard having its work-engaging portion extending in front of the cutter whereby a face of the article may be held against the guard and the article so fed as to cause the fin to be severed substantially flush with said face, and means whereby the guard may be adjusted toward and from the cutter.

. 2. A machine for trimming a fin from a molded rubber article having, in combina- A thumb-nut 81, thread-c tion,- a rotary cutter, shear member, guard having its work-engaging portion'extending in front of the cutter and located close to said cutter whereby a face of the article may be held against the guard and so fed as to cause the fin to be severed substantially flush with said face.

3. A machine for'trimming a fin from a molded rubber article having, in combination, a pair of cooperating rotary shear cutters, a thin-edged rotatable guard having its work-engaging portion extending in front of one of the cutters and located close to said cutter, and'a work support extending close to the bite of the cutters whereby the articlemay be placed upon the work support with a face held against the guard and so fed as to cause the fin to be severed substantially flush with said face.

4. A machine for trimming a fin from a molded rubber article having, in combination, a pair of cooperating rotary shear cutters, athin-edged rotatable guard having its worlcengaging portion extending in front of one of the cutters and located close to said cutter, a work support extending close to the bite of the cutters whereby the article may be placed upon the work sup port with a face held against the guard and so fed as to cause the fin to be severed substantially flush with said face, and means for rotating the guard to facilitate feeding the article.

5. A machine for trimming a fin from a molded rubber article having, in combination, a pair of cooperating rotary shear cutters, a work support adapted to support the article with the fin projecting beyond the plane of the cutters, and a thin-edged, hollow, rotatable guard extending over one of the cutters and having its operative, article-engaging portion located close to said cutter, whereby a face of the article may be held against the guard and the article movedso as to cause the fin to besevered closeto the edge of said face.

6. A machine for trimming a fin from a molded rubber article having, in combination, a pair of cooperating rotary shear cutters, a work support angularly adjust-- able about an axis lying close to the bite of the cutters adapted to support the ar-- ti'cle with the fin projecting beyond the plane of the cutters, and a thin-edged, hollow, rotatable guard extending over one of the cutters and having its operative, articleengaging portion located close to said outter, whereby a. face of the article may be held against the guard and the article moved so as to cause the fin to be severed close'to the edge of said face.

7. A machine for trimming a fin from a molded rubber article having, in combination .'a pair of cooperating rotary disk a cooperating rotary and a thin-edged rotatable shear cutters located one above the other,

terandmeans ior rotating the guard,

whereby a face of the articlefmaybe held against said guard andthearticleso moved as to causethe fin to be severed close to the edge ot-said face;-

S. i-Mm-acl'ne fortrimming the overflow from; a -molded--1u-bber beet-the tread face of which has aportion,lying at -a dit't'erent level-from that of the'ove'rfiow-whichprojects from said face comprising a' pair of co-operatingsl'i'ear cutters, adangiflarly:

adjustable work support for the heel,- and means for raising and lowering the worksupport bodily during-the trin'imingopera tion to maintainth'e overflow of-the heel'- at'a proper level to be engaged by the cutters.

ing in combination, a pair offcoroperati-ng shear cutters,- means for operating the c u't-- ters, awork support angularly adjustable about an-axis extending at arr-angle to the :IXGS'O-f thecutters and passing-substantially throughthe locality in which the periph cries of the cutters meet, and means where-- by the work; support may be raised and lowered during the operation of the machine.-

10. Amachine of theclass described, having in combination, a pair of rotatable cutters, means for rotating the I cutters,- a1 worksupport in front of the cutters angularly adjustable about an axis transverse to the axes of 'thecu tters, yielding means for holding the axis lnormally substantially horizontal; and means under control of the 'op-- erator during the operation of themachme for raisingone end'ot' the axis.

11,- Aniachme ofthe class described, having in combm'atioma pair ofrotatable cutters, means for rotating the cutters, a work in front of the cutters,al1ned rods upon which the worksupport 15 mounted,

support standards by: which the rods are'sustained, one rod being loosely mountedi'n one standar'd,a slide member carrying the other rodand mounted in the other standard, yield-- ing means for holding the slide member .in a given position, and means under control of the operator during. the operation of the-machine for raising the slidemember.

12. A machine for trimming a filrfroin a molded rubber article having, in combinatiom a rotary cutter, a work support, a

hollow rotatabler guar'd extending over the cutter in position to engage-an edgeot an 9. A macliineofthe class described, hav

article which rests upon the work support,-1 means i'or rotating the guardtoiacilitate feeding the article, and means -iorsupplying, lubricant to the work-engaging face of theguard to modify its feedingaction.

18. A machineof the class described, ha V- ingincombination, a pair of co-l'operati'ng rotatable cutters located one abovethe other, means for'rotating the cutters, a downwardlyinclined worksupportlin front of-the ointters, a guard for the upper cutter and a guard for thelowen cutter, said-dast-named guard extendingabove the,periphery-. of the lowercutter in position tobeyengaged by; theunder side of: the work beforevthe work is operated-upon by thecutters.

14. A machine of the class-described, having incombination, a pairof co-operating: rotatable cutters-located one-above the iothcr,

means for rotating the cutters, a downward- W ly inclined work support in,-front-:of--the.cnt-, ters, a hollow, rotatable 1 guard extending over. the uppercutter,-and a, guard foivthe lower cutter, said lastmam'ed guard extending above. the periphery of saidlower cutter on that side of the meeting ,point ofthe cutters from which the on coming work appreaches,

15. Aomachine of the-class described, ha'ving-in combination, a pair of co-operating rot atable cutters locatedone above the other, means for rotating the cutters, :a downward lyf-inclined work supportin frontof the cutters,- a hollow, rotatable guard extending over the upper cutter, and a member extending above the periphery of the lower cutter in position to'engage the lower side of the on-coming work before it reaches the cooperating portions of the cutters.

16. A machine of the class described, having in combination, apair of (ac-operatingrotatable cutters located one: above theother,

means for rotatingthe cutters, BwdOWHWBJTCL 1y inclined worksupport infront of the cutters, a hollow, rotatableguard extending over-the upper cutter, andamember extending-v above the'periphery of the lower cutter in position tofenga-gethe lower side of the on-comlng work before ltreaches the co-op crating portions ofthe cutters, saidmember v 7 being mounted for vertical adj ustment.

17. A machine of the class described, having in combinati on, r a pair of co-operating rotatable cutters-located one above theother, means tor rotating. the cutters, a downward? lyinclinedwork supp'ortzin front of thecutters,- a hollow, rotatable guard extending over theupper cutter anda guard for the lower cutter, saidlast-named guard extending above the periphery of-said lower cutter in positionto be engaged by the workbefore the-work is operated uponby the cutters.

18. A machine of the class described, having in combination, a pair ofco-operating cutters, .means for operating the cutters, an

angularly adjustable table provided with a narrow projection adjacent to the locality in which the cutters meet, and aroller carried by the table adjacent to the projection.

19. A machine for trimming the overflow from a molded rubber heel having a convex face and a concave face comprising a pair of co-operating shear cutters, an angularly adjustable work support for the heel, and means for moving the work support during the trimming operation in such manner as to raise and lower the heel bodily.

20. A machine for trimming the overflow from a rubber heel having a convex face and a concave face, comprising a work support the greater portion of which is sub stantially fiat upon which either face of the heel may rest, a cutter arranged to operate near one locality in the edge of the support, and means for changing the position of that locality with respect to the cutter so as to sever the overflow properly whether the concave or convex face of the heel rests upon the support.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

JAMES A. BROGAN. 

